Sarah Barnard | Film Annotation 3 | Blue Vinyl 1. Title, director and release year Blue Vinyl | Judith Helfand and Daniel Gold | 2002 2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? Blue Vinyl is a documentary/comedy concerning Judith Helfand’s battle to learn about the detrimental effects of vinyl. When her parents decided to change out their red, wooden siding for new blue vinyl siding, health concerns rang home for Judith. She knew all about the dangers of toxic chemical exposure, as she had cervical cancer from a drug given to her mother while she was pregnant. In order to find out the truth behind vinyl, Judith goes around the country and the world to find out what vinyl really contains. In the end, she exposes many of the hidden problems with vinyl, along with a few cover-ups to keep consumers in the dark. The truth about vinyl siding and the corporations that produce it is presented in a somewhat comical and disturbing way in Blue Vinyl. 3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out? While the key concerns Judith is trying to draw out in Blue Vinyl are environmental, she comes across some additional sustainability problems along the way, such as organizational/legal issues associated with corporate social responsibility, or lack thereof. In order to understand the bigger picture, however, we must first look at the environmental problems associated with vinyl. Judith comes across many surprising facts in her travels, including things like the dioxin buildups in the food chain due to PVC, the key ingredient in vinyl, and the toxic fumes from burning PVC. Many workers are at risk, with resin workers at high risk for vinyl chlorine exposure, and fabricators possibly being exposed to vinyl chlorine when melting down the pellets. While PVC is fine in its inert form, it is very toxic over the course of its life cycle. These and many other facts about the environmental impacts of vinyl were very clear throughout the film. Additional concerns were covered when Judith went to Venice, Italy, to visit one of the largest PVC makers in Europe, Enichem. She met a few families who have suffered severe health damage due to working in the factories. She was also able to talk to some researchers, who gave her an especially surprising legal view. While rats got cancer during research studies from just 250 ppm of vinyl chloride, the United States and Italy had legal levels of twice that. There were multiple instances of secrecy agreements of the corporations with the research companies to hide their results. In the United States, Judith met with an advocacy lawyer named Billy who has been working on cases against the vinyl companies. One example was a cover-up where on a report was written “Exceeds short term exposure levels -- don’t send wire to Houston.” This lack of corporate social and ethical responsibility, as well as a lack of legal ramifications, is a major addition to the sustainability problems surrounding PVC and vinyl. Judith even got turned down for her request of a tour of a vinyl factory, and she was finally only awarded a short-length interview with a vinyl official who tried to sidestep most of her questions. Finally, lack of public education and viable alternatives add to the sustainability problems of vinyl. Judith spends the entire film attempting to find out the detrimental effects of the vinyl siding her parents chose to put on, but a good majority of the information was not previously publicly available. Many of the people she spoke with on an individual basis had no idea of the serious health effects PVC could cause. She also could only convince her parents to remove the vinyl if she found a safe, affordable, nice looking solution. She traveled to multiple places to speak with experts about possible alternatives, many of which became too expensive to be feasible. Technologically, cheap alternatives just don’t exist yet to convince consumers to make the switch away from vinyl siding. 4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? I found one of the strengths of Blue Vinyl to be Judith’s attempts to convince her parents about the dangers of their vinyl siding. In order to convince them, she couldn’t just spout off numbers and facts, but rather she had to have a comprehensive set of arguments to go through. Each time she went back to her parents and they were unconvinced, it felt as though the audience could completely relate. Yet each time Judith went back to find out more information, eventually winning over her parents, as well as, in my opinion, the audience. It was very persuasive for the film to be attempting to convince an audience other than the viewers, but actually her own family. It made the film feel much more realistic, and while I don’t know if I would call the film a comedy, it is those real-life moments that help you to find humor in the situation. The scenes with the researchers in Italy were also extremely compelling, to see the cover-ups and secrecy agreements that have been made to hide a lot of these issues that Blue Vinyl is exposing. 5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? I was not entirely convinced by the scene where Judith interviewed the vinyl official. It seemed like a lot of her questions were not worded in a strong enough manner to get a direct answer, and she left without a whole lot of substance to her answers. It seems she could have been better prepared, or the interview could have taken place in a different way that could have been more valuable. While the end product of Judith’s parents’ house was convincing, the process she went through trying to find a viable alternative was not entirely compelling. It didn’t make it seem easy to find any alternatives, and while this proposes another entire set of sustainability problems, it wasn’t convincing for her story. She also pointed out that she had to put up additional money for the reclaimed wood they used, which wasn’t convincing for reaching her original goal. 6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.? Blue Vinyl compels me to seek out some additional viable alternatives to vinyl, as well as to begin to understand the vast amount of products that utilize vinyl today. For example, is vinyl siding the biggest use of vinyl currently, and therefore should it be the cause of main concern, or is there an even larger vinyl or PVC problem out there that should possibly be addressed first? While the film does an excellent job portraying the impacts of vinyl siding on the environment and health, it would be interesting to find out what other daily products it affects and how we can begin to replace them. 7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems? I think the film is excellent for many types of audiences, especially college-aged students. The film might be an excellent choice to show to architecture and construction management students, both to show the effects of vinyl and PVC, but also more generally to get them thinking about the consequences their material choices can have. It may also be important for business majors to realize the lack of corporate social responsibility in the workplace and begin thinking about how to solve these larger scale issues. It does seem likely that Blue Vinyl would have an impact on the way viewers think about the vinyl issue, as Judith was able to convince her parents, which was her main goal all along. 8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film? Blue Vinyl doesn’t just suggest not using vinyl in your own home, but also provides actions of educating others on the key concerns. Many people with vinyl siding on their homes have no idea of the possible consequences, and the film addresses many of these consequences quite well. Looking for alternatives while recognizing the problems of the original seem to be the major interventions of this film. The film also proposed some alternative materials, many of which were quite radical. 9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? The ending of the film didn’t focus much on the consequences of taking down vinyl siding to replace it with a more “environmental” material. While Judith recognized the concern of the siding just being burnt down, releasing toxic chemicals, it didn’t cover the possible ways to get rid of these toxic chemicals. Additionally, Blue Vinyl could have drawn a larger conclusion to the huge variety of materials in similar situations, where the full environmental impact isn’t understood. While the human-scale interaction of the film was quite convincing, the educational value could have been enhanced by a few more large-scale, big-picture ideas.
1. Title, director and release year
Blue Vinyl | Judith Helfand and Daniel Gold | 2002
2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?
Blue Vinyl is a documentary/comedy concerning Judith Helfand’s battle to learn about the detrimental effects of vinyl. When her parents decided to change out their red, wooden siding for new blue vinyl siding, health concerns rang home for Judith. She knew all about the dangers of toxic chemical exposure, as she had cervical cancer from a drug given to her mother while she was pregnant. In order to find out the truth behind vinyl, Judith goes around the country and the world to find out what vinyl really contains. In the end, she exposes many of the hidden problems with vinyl, along with a few cover-ups to keep consumers in the dark. The truth about vinyl siding and the corporations that produce it is presented in a somewhat comical and disturbing way in Blue Vinyl.
3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?
While the key concerns Judith is trying to draw out in Blue Vinyl are environmental, she comes across some additional sustainability problems along the way, such as organizational/legal issues associated with corporate social responsibility, or lack thereof. In order to understand the bigger picture, however, we must first look at the environmental problems associated with vinyl. Judith comes across many surprising facts in her travels, including things like the dioxin buildups in the food chain due to PVC, the key ingredient in vinyl, and the toxic fumes from burning PVC. Many workers are at risk, with resin workers at high risk for vinyl chlorine exposure, and fabricators possibly being exposed to vinyl chlorine when melting down the pellets. While PVC is fine in its inert form, it is very toxic over the course of its life cycle. These and many other facts about the environmental impacts of vinyl were very clear throughout the film.
Additional concerns were covered when Judith went to Venice, Italy, to visit one of the largest PVC makers in Europe, Enichem. She met a few families who have suffered severe health damage due to working in the factories. She was also able to talk to some researchers, who gave her an especially surprising legal view. While rats got cancer during research studies from just 250 ppm of vinyl chloride, the United States and Italy had legal levels of twice that. There were multiple instances of secrecy agreements of the corporations with the research companies to hide their results. In the United States, Judith met with an advocacy lawyer named Billy who has been working on cases against the vinyl companies. One example was a cover-up where on a report was written “Exceeds short term exposure levels -- don’t send wire to Houston.” This lack of corporate social and ethical responsibility, as well as a lack of legal ramifications, is a major addition to the sustainability problems surrounding PVC and vinyl. Judith even got turned down for her request of a tour of a vinyl factory, and she was finally only awarded a short-length interview with a vinyl official who tried to sidestep most of her questions.
Finally, lack of public education and viable alternatives add to the sustainability problems of vinyl. Judith spends the entire film attempting to find out the detrimental effects of the vinyl siding her parents chose to put on, but a good majority of the information was not previously publicly available. Many of the people she spoke with on an individual basis had no idea of the serious health effects PVC could cause. She also could only convince her parents to remove the vinyl if she found a safe, affordable, nice looking solution. She traveled to multiple places to speak with experts about possible alternatives, many of which became too expensive to be feasible. Technologically, cheap alternatives just don’t exist yet to convince consumers to make the switch away from vinyl siding.
4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?
I found one of the strengths of Blue Vinyl to be Judith’s attempts to convince her parents about the dangers of their vinyl siding. In order to convince them, she couldn’t just spout off numbers and facts, but rather she had to have a comprehensive set of arguments to go through. Each time she went back to her parents and they were unconvinced, it felt as though the audience could completely relate. Yet each time Judith went back to find out more information, eventually winning over her parents, as well as, in my opinion, the audience. It was very persuasive for the film to be attempting to convince an audience other than the viewers, but actually her own family. It made the film feel much more realistic, and while I don’t know if I would call the film a comedy, it is those real-life moments that help you to find humor in the situation. The scenes with the researchers in Italy were also extremely compelling, to see the cover-ups and secrecy agreements that have been made to hide a lot of these issues that Blue Vinyl is exposing.
5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by?
I was not entirely convinced by the scene where Judith interviewed the vinyl official. It seemed like a lot of her questions were not worded in a strong enough manner to get a direct answer, and she left without a whole lot of substance to her answers. It seems she could have been better prepared, or the interview could have taken place in a different way that could have been more valuable. While the end product of Judith’s parents’ house was convincing, the process she went through trying to find a viable alternative was not entirely compelling. It didn’t make it seem easy to find any alternatives, and while this proposes another entire set of sustainability problems, it wasn’t convincing for her story. She also pointed out that she had to put up additional money for the reclaimed wood they used, which wasn’t convincing for reaching her original goal.
6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.?
Blue Vinyl compels me to seek out some additional viable alternatives to vinyl, as well as to begin to understand the vast amount of products that utilize vinyl today. For example, is vinyl siding the biggest use of vinyl currently, and therefore should it be the cause of main concern, or is there an even larger vinyl or PVC problem out there that should possibly be addressed first? While the film does an excellent job portraying the impacts of vinyl siding on the environment and health, it would be interesting to find out what other daily products it affects and how we can begin to replace them.
7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems?
I think the film is excellent for many types of audiences, especially college-aged students. The film might be an excellent choice to show to architecture and construction management students, both to show the effects of vinyl and PVC, but also more generally to get them thinking about the consequences their material choices can have. It may also be important for business majors to realize the lack of corporate social responsibility in the workplace and begin thinking about how to solve these larger scale issues. It does seem likely that Blue Vinyl would have an impact on the way viewers think about the vinyl issue, as Judith was able to convince her parents, which was her main goal all along.
8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film?
Blue Vinyl doesn’t just suggest not using vinyl in your own home, but also provides actions of educating others on the key concerns. Many people with vinyl siding on their homes have no idea of the possible consequences, and the film addresses many of these consequences quite well. Looking for alternatives while recognizing the problems of the original seem to be the major interventions of this film. The film also proposed some alternative materials, many of which were quite radical.
9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?
The ending of the film didn’t focus much on the consequences of taking down vinyl siding to replace it with a more “environmental” material. While Judith recognized the concern of the siding just being burnt down, releasing toxic chemicals, it didn’t cover the possible ways to get rid of these toxic chemicals. Additionally, Blue Vinyl could have drawn a larger conclusion to the huge variety of materials in similar situations, where the full environmental impact isn’t understood. While the human-scale interaction of the film was quite convincing, the educational value could have been enhanced by a few more large-scale, big-picture ideas.